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And, tellingly, males who opted for masturbation over sex also reported more difficulty maintaining erections.

The males who preferred watching porn or masturbating rather than intimacy with their partner reported feeling much less happy in their relationships.

And those who reported feeling not sexually satisfied in their relationships were the same respondents struggling with erectile dysfunction.

THE RISE OF THE 'PORNOSEXUAL'

The birth of the Internet has given more people access to free online porn, enabling them to fulfill their sexual urges with no need for another person in the room.

Now researchers claim it has given rise to a new phenomenon called 'pornosexuality' – when a person prefers porn to sex.

According to Medical Daily, the new term describes a person whose 'sexual orientation is linked solely to porn'.

Delving into the topic more deeply, sex addiction therapist and licensed marriage and family therapist, Christine Lozano, told the website: 'The convenience of getting off online without the potential work, vulnerability, intimacy, and connection with others can be appealing to some.'

Because men are considered to use porn more frequently than women, this increases their chances of identifying as pornosexuals.

Porn is the symptom not the cause

Study author Dr Nicole Prause, a sexual psychophysiologist and founder of Liberos LLC, says that erectile dysfunction likely drives porn use – not the other way round.

'This supports exactly my concern, that men are not preferring sex films, per se, they are more likely avoiding their partner through masturbation, and they happen to watch sex films while they masturbate,' she said.

She disagreed with research published last month from the Naval Medical Center of San Diego.

It found strong association between regularly watching porn and suffering from a lack of sexual desire and erectile dysfunction.

Researchers claimed watching too much internet porn can increase a person's 'tolerance' the same as narcotics.

Regular porn watchers are less likely to respond to real-world sexual activity and must increasingly rely on pornography for release, according to the findings.

But Dr Prause said this study failed to ask men questions about masturbation.